Chapter 886: Battle of the Far East - No. 15 Main Peak

On the third day of Xiaoxue, the rhythm of the 7th Division's soaring march also stopped, and the Russian army finally mustered up the courage to launch a blockade. More than 50,000 Russian troops have built several defensive fronts in front of the 7th Division, and they are in a posture of fighting to the death with the 7th Division. The Russian army, which lacked firepower, took advantage of the mountainous advantage to resist and fought very tenaciously. Although the 7th Division had a huge advantage in equipment, it could not gnaw at the enemy troops twice as large as itself and had been prepared for a long time, and the two sides fell into a stalemate for a while.

After receiving the battle report, Acton urgently ordered the 15th and 23rd Divisions on both flanks of the 7th Division to advance forward to protect the flanks of the 7th Division. However, the advance of the two armies was not fast, and they also encountered resistance from the Russian army. Although only a small group of Russian troops stopped them, it still greatly reduced the speed of their march. The Russian army, which had not shown its head all along, suddenly appeared with high frequency in the area near the 7th Division, which made Acton smell danger. However, at present, the Manchurian Army has the upper hand, and the Seventh Division and other units are also on the offensive, so it seems that there is no need to make large-scale adjustments, so Acton only ordered the Air Force to strengthen reconnaissance of the surrounding area so that it can obtain comprehensive intelligence.

After careful reconnaissance by the Air Force, nothing unusual was found. There seemed to be traces of troop movement on the road, but no Russian troops were found, and there was no fire or smoke or anything like that. After the light snow, the color of the ground is complicated, and the altitude of the Air Force reconnaissance plane is relatively high, so it is difficult to say whether this trace was really caused by the march. After the Air Force summarized and fed back the intelligence to Acton, everyone felt that there was nothing abnormal. Although Acton added a mixed brigade to each flank of the Seventh Division for the sake of safety, he did not particularly care. Everyone felt that this was just a useless struggle of the Russian army, and the Seventh Division under the leadership of Ji Xing was also studying the plan to attack the positions of the Russian army in the front, but more than 500,000 Russian troops had quietly unfolded.

As long as people are forced to do their part, there is nothing that cannot be done, and there is no way that cannot be thought of. The Russian army was pushed to a certain extent, so the old Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich came up with various ways to deal with the Manchurian army, and the Russian army also achieved some almost impossible actions with tenacious perseverance. The 1st Guards Regiment of the Russian Army and the 1st Tobolsk Regiment, totaling more than 600,000 people, marched day and night, and had been fluttering in the ice and snow for four days. Both officers and soldiers of the Russian army wore white cloaks and hid in the snow during the day to avoid the detection of Manchurian army aircraft, and only at night would they get up and march. Moreover, during the march, they did not light fires for heating, nor did they use any lighting facilities at all, and the whole army gnawed on cold and hard dry rations in unison. It was a little hard, but they also performed miracles, marching more than 300 kilometers in four days and nights, and successfully evading the detection of the Manchurian Air Force.

The attack of the 7th Division caused great casualties to the Russians, but the Russians still firmly controlled their defensive lines, and the 7th Division had a limited breakthrough, so it retreated to the garrison to recuperate. Ji Xing is still thinking about how to break through the Russian defense line, but a terrifying net has been opened. The Russian army with 50,000 troops of the first column blocked the front of the 7th Division, and the second column, which had rushed from Tobolsk to reinforce it, wedged in depth from the gaps on its flanks.

The 3rd Column of the Rearguard Corps, with more than 70,000 men, seized part of the high ground north of the 7th Division, approached the flank of the 7th Division, and formed an external front to block the 23rd Division of the Manchurian Army. The main forces of the Fourth and Fifth Columns seized key points such as the watershed and the Keltai Mountains, and severed the connection between the 7th and 15th Divisions. And the fifth column took the initiative with 80,000 troops, forcing most of the 15th Division to retreat back to the assembly area. The main force of the Russian Sixth Column captured key points such as Heights 07, 09, and 11, cut off the 7th Division and the 27th Mixed Brigade behind the flank, and at the same time divided its forces to occupy the plain area southeast of Heights 15. At the same time, the 7th and 8th columns attacked from the front, occupied the 12th and 13th heights, and choked the offensive line of the 7th Division. The Ninth Column quickly penetrated to the rear of the Seventh Division and reached the rear of the Seventh Division in the early morning of the next day. At midnight, when the forward stronghold of the 7th Division was suddenly attacked, Ji Xing and other senior generals were still preparing the attack plan to be executed the next day.

"What's the situation?" Ji Xing and the others in the command post were all confused, and why suddenly there was a loud burst of gunfire in the middle of the night.

"Report to the division, the Russian army suddenly launched a counterattack on the forward stronghold of our army, and the offensive was extremely fierce!" After about half a cigarette, a combat staff officer hurried back.

"How dare they fight back?" Amba Lingwu and the others all showed excited looks, the Russian army has always run away as soon as it touches, and everyone can't find them if they want to fight a decisive battle, this time they took the initiative to attack, which is really a rare opportunity.

"Good! Let the artillery regiment suppress the enemy and prepare for the artillery fire of our attack, and order all units to prepare for a counterattack immediately! The Russian army took the initiative to come out, their position must be chaotic, and it is a good opportunity for us to take this defense line! Ji Xing was also very excited, and immediately gave the order to prepare for a counterattack.

"Division, the Russian army's surprise attack this time is extremely fierce, should we stabilize the defense line first!" The staff officer was a little worried, and he seemed to have missed some important details.

"Aggressive? How fierce can it be? 50,000 Russian troops rushed out of the trenches? Ji Xing laughed and scolded, he didn't have seen the offensive of the Russian army, and he could bombard them back with one shelling.

"The Russian army has definitely dispatched no less than 100,000 troops, and a lot of artillery and machine guns have been dispatched, and many strongholds on the front are already in an emergency!" The staff officer finally remembered what he had just missed.

"I'll go!" Ji Xing was shocked now, and Amba Lingwu and the others were not bluffing.

The Seventh Division and the Russian army's defense line also grinded for two or three days, and they had always judged that the opponent's strength was about 50,000 people, but now that 100,000 people suddenly appeared, they were caught off guard. The Manchurian Army's equipment is very advanced, and its firepower is very fierce, but it cannot be a machine gun in each person's hand, and it can never stop breaking through. People will not be able to shoot accurately, no one will be able to destroy an enemy with a single bullet, and guns will stop because they need to be reloaded. If there is really a hard rush of 100,000 Russian troops regardless of it, the front line of the Seventh Division will definitely not be able to withstand it.

"Report! According to the division, the ammunition in the forward stronghold of our department was exhausted, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and the front-line troops had to abandon the stronghold and retreat. Brigade Commander Daoqin had already ordered the troops to shrink the defensive line, and the front-line troops moved closer to the main force. Daoqin sent a herald back, but the front line could no longer hold on, and he had to order the troops to shrink.

"All the divisions have shrunk their defensive lines, and the whole division has retreated to the southeast, and we have to engage in friendship with friendly forces!" Ji Xing and the others all understood that they were ambushed, and the Russian army had dug a big hole for them. However, they are not too worried, the 7th Division is having difficulty breaking the enemy at the moment, but it is still no problem to retreat calmly.

"The divisional seats, the watershed, the Keltai Hill and other key points were all occupied by the Russian army, and the connection between our army and the 15th Division was cut off. Moreover, the 15th Division was also attacked by a large number of Russian troops, and most of them retreated to the assembly area. The key points such as Heights 07, 09, and 11 behind the flanks of our army were also all occupied by the Russian army, and the plain area southeast of Heights 15, which could be used as a staging area, was also occupied by the Russian army. "Nahai had just been away, he went to the front line to find out the situation in the direction, and then he brought back a very strange news.

"Can't you arch?" Ji Xing's forehead began to sweat, the Russian army has the intention of surrounding him!

"old Maozi doesn't know where it came from, the total strength of the Russian army in all directions has reached nearly 500,000, and it is difficult for us to open the way for a while!" Bi Chengxian has already made a test in all directions, and the result is very exciting, and the mountains are full of dense enemies, so Nahai can calculate the approximate strength of the Russian army.

"After the old man is broken, the whole division will immediately retreat east!" Ji Xing is not strong this time, he has to anoint the soles of his feet, otherwise he will definitely be surrounded.

The Russian army, which had endured four days of hardship, attacked like crazy, and they really wanted to eat the seventh division in one bite and play their own prestige. It's a pity that the strength of the 7th Division is too strong, and the onslaught of the Russian army, regardless of casualties, has caused a lot of trouble to the 7th Division, but it still can't annihilate them. In the middle of the night of the bloody battle between the two sides, the 7th Division withdrew with all its beards and tails, and rushed all the way east to its base camp. If the 7th Division is allowed to rush back, not only will the Russian army suffer in vain, but they will also likely fall into the encirclement of the Manchurian Army. Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich the Elder, of course, thought of this, so he had already made arrangements for coping. Before the 7th Division had withdrawn five kilometers, it ran head-on into the 9th column of the Russian army, which was in full array.

The ninth column had 110,000 men, and the Seventh Division would not be able to defeat them for a while, and if time was delayed, all the hundreds of thousands of Russian troops behind would catch up. A very serious question was placed in front of all the generals of the 7th Division, who had been besieged by the Russian army in a small area. Stopping is a dead end, but running around will only be more completely killed after the Russian army narrows the encirclement.

"Seize the main peak of the fifteenth highland, where is the commanding heights of the region, let's stick to it and wait for help!" Ji Xing gave a very helpless order.

The arrogant second ancestors of the Seventh Division have always looked down on their brother troops, thinking that they are all earth leopards. But now they have to pay for their arrogance, they are almost surrounded by the Russian army, they really have no way to jump anymore, they can only wait for the leopards to come to the rescue. Everyone didn't quite accept this order, but there was nothing they could do, and the second ancestors of the Seventh Division were completely messed up this time.

"Set up defensive positions, collect snow, prepare water and ammunition, and go up the mountain to be a horse and die unjustly!" Ji Xing didn't dare to be crazy this time, he thought of all the details he could think of.

"The Seventh Division was surrounded by the fifteenth heights, and the total strength of the Russian army was nearly sixty-five!" Ji Xing and Amba Lingwu chatted for a long time before they prepared a message asking for help. The message was very simple, they didn't say a word about the plea for help, but the fool knew what it meant.